Thomas Doucet: Hero of Plaisance

R. Gordon Moyles is professor emeritus of English at the University of
Alberta, co-author of Imperial Dreams and Colonial Realities: British
Views of Canada, 1880–1914, author of The Salvation Army and the
Public, and the editor of “Improved by Cultiv

Plaisance, Terre Neuve (1662–1713), Placentia, Newfoundland (1713 to
present)—“The Gibraltar of North America,” says historian D.W.
Prowse. As the French capital in the new world and “the metropolis of
their fish trade,” it withstood all English attempts to take it, and,
until the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, served as the centre of French
forays against the English strongholds at Bay Bulls and St. John’s.
One of these forays—when the French and Indian troops, under Captain
Pierre Le Moyne sieur de’Iberville, sacked St. John’s and nearby
towns in 1696—is the basis for this story.

Young Thomas Doucet, while watching the comings and goings of the
captain and his soldiers, wishes he were old enough to help “drive the
English from Newfoundland” and claim “the island—and its treasure
of codfish—for France.” He does not get his wish, but becomes a hero
in a most unexpected way when he rescues a young Mi’kmaw girl who has
fallen through river ice. As a result of his heroism, Thomas gets to
meet and be rewarded by his hero, Captain de’Iberville.

This nicely illustrated, well-told story vividly recreates a
little-known event and place. Highly recommended.